The city is undertaking an unusual erosion-control project along a creek in Antelope Park near the Auld Recreation Center. “We’re going to put some meander back in the channel,” said J.J. Yost, construction manager for the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department.

That’s right. Instead of straightening out the channel, workers will put in curves as part of a $520,000 stormwater project. Yost said in a way workers may be creating a natural channel similar to what was there originally.

Work is already under way along the stream from Van Dorn Street downstream to Garfield Street. The creek, an unnamed tributary of Antelope Creek, comes very close to Memorial Drive in some places.

The creek is dry most of the year, but flash floods do occur during heavy rains, Yost said. Over the years, severe flooding has created steep banks and clogged up the channel.

Plans call for using a bioengineering approach to the project. In addition to adding curves, Yost said, workers will create gentler slopes out of the steep banks and plant vegetation to help prevent erosion. Some trees will be removed, but they will be replaced, he said.

Yost said the goal of the project is to stop further erosion of the channel so it won’t undermine the roadway and a pedestrian bridge that crosses the stream. He said if the work is not done, the pedestrian bridge could eventually collapse.

Yost said creating a meandering channel will slow the water and reduce erosion, and during big floods the channel will “convey” water without backing it up.

The Public Works & Utilities Department is working with the Parks and Recreation Department on the project. Meetings have been held with neighborhood residents.

“This is one of the first projects that Parks and the Watershed Management Division (of Public Works and Utilities) have teamed up on. Hopefully, it’s the first of many,” said senior engineer Ben Higgins.

The project should create a more user-friendly environment along that stretch of the creek and improve water quality, too, Higgins said.

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.